Those are such great gifts! I can't wait until Inez is old enough for fun stuff like that.

This year she's getting: music stuff (a little drum, a set of orchestra shaker things, a bell), some Helen Oxenbury board books, sensory balls, a little toy car, a giant plush bulldog that she fell in love with in Target (it was so cute! she saw it and just started clapping and laughing and reaching out to hug it) and a nice canvas toy sorter for her room (kiiiiind of more for me, but whatev). I really wanted to get her one of those pop up tunnels, but they all say 3+. Boo.

we got our 3 year old son totem tennis, a kick-board for swimming, a space hopper, a mini keyboard and a little teepee shaped play tent. he will be stoked. we didn't plan on getting him so many things, but we were so under budget, that we kept getting things. we are still under budget, which is good, because i spent way more than i should have on some perfume for me ;P

Grey is getting a wagon (which I am dreaming of the day he can sit in it and I can pull him around the farmers market). Some toys from my parents, my brother got him some rubber mats since we have hardwood floors and they are more grippy so maybe one day he will learn to crawl, he got a bunch more clothes, some stuffed animals and a high chair. Mstly everything is not really fun and more useful since he doesn't know what Christmas is yet. I also knitted him a stocking.

I also have to stop by the local discount store and get him a new coloring book and some crayons - the kid loves to color and goes through his supplies at a ridiculous rate.

And I also picked him up a handmade toy broom, because he absolutely loves helping me clean around the house (we also just started reading the first Harry Potter book to him, and he is completely transfixed by the image of Harry flying on the broom on the cover. It's going to be crazy.)

We're not doing a whole lot for Vi this year, because she's the first grandkid on both sides and I know my MIL is going nuts, plus she's too young to understand it anyway.

But we got her a little xylophone:

12 days of Christmas socks from Zulily:

And maybe some books (my favorite kind of present). Actually these weren't really ordered as Christmas presents, and they may not even arrive on time (we do a giant order of Dutch books and videos once every year or so, so some of the Dutch ones might just get saved for later depending on how advanced they look).

Videos...actually these will probably get saved for a year or two anyway as well, she's too young for DVDs really but she does like the music from them and the "Kerst" is a Christmas one. We'll see:

Grey is getting a wagon (which I am dreaming of the day he can sit in it and I can pull him around the farmers market).

That is what the Emperor got for Christmas last year (from his grandparents, because they asked us what we wanted them to get him) and that is primarily what we use it for!

Mitten, last year we seriously got the Emperor a bouncy ball and some bubble bath. That plus the wagon from his grandparents = his Christmas haul. I think that was just about perfect for a one year old.

Me too. We bought her a bunch of socks (where in the world do they go??), but that's it. My excuse is that my daughter is too young to understand presents and I'm waiting to see what gifts she gets from other people, and then I'll see if there are any toys or books that look good at the after-Christmas sales. My family tends to go overboard buying gifts, so I'm sure she'll get a TON from grandparents and aunts....

(This situation has only intensified. Some info has leaked. His Christmas is "ruined.")

Oh shiitake! That sucks.

I am so sorry FFace. That really is awful. Do you have a sense of how you're going to handle it?

Leela isn't getting anything from us. She is 8 wks old and pretty much just discovered her fists. She's not getting anything from our families either because we're just not that into one another.

Just put a bow on your boob!

Also I wish all of you were my parents when I was little.

_________________"The Tree is His Penis"

The tree is his penis // it's very exciting // when held up to his mouth // the lights are all lighting // his eyes start a-bulging // in unbridled glee // the tree is his penis // its beauty, effulgent -amandabear

Leela isn't getting anything from us. She is 8 wks old and pretty much just discovered her fists. She's not getting anything from our families either because we're just not that into one another.

That is sane! (Of you, not your family. How could anyone be not that into Leela?!)

The Emperor was a hair under 3 months for his first Christmas and we got him literally nothing that year. His paternal grandparents went a little crazy (first Christmas for first grandchild) and got him a slew of small random presents. That didn't bother me... made them happy and it was sweet... buuuuut I don't regret not getting him anything that year myself.

I'd say we are lucky because we have TOO many people buying presents for Dahlia (I have 4 brothers and sisters who dote on her, though they never get to see her + my mom is a crazy Christmas person) so frankly, I don't think we're getting her anything. Wait, actually I bought her that Eating the Alphabet book and I'll save that for Christmas. Basically, we will get about 20 different things in the mail from relatives and about half of them we will give her on Christmas, and the rest we will hand out here and there over the next few months - til her birthday in May, when a slew of new gifts will arrive.

I know for sure my mom bought her one of those Calico Critters dollhouses (but the small cottage one). We just have zero room for more stuff ugh; I have to go through the toys she already has and put some up in the crawlspace to save for newbaby. Plus I tend to buy her stuff kinda randomly all year, like the mini-kick scooter we paid too much for a couple months ago.